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Medical Society Gets Grant to Help Uninsured: $450,000 to Be Used for Volunteer Doctor Network

Posted on: Thursday, 23 March 2006, 03:03 CST

By Guy Boulton, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Mar. 23--The Medical Society of Milwaukee County has been awarded a $450,000 grant to help set up a network of volunteer physicians who would treat people without insurance.

The grant -- which will be given over three years -- means that the society can now move forward on the MilwaukeeCares program announced last year.

"With this money, we've got the means to make it happen," said Beth Harwood, the group's executive vice president.

The grant is from the Healthier Wisconsin Partnership Program, which funds public and community health projects. The program is overseen the Medical College of Wisconsin and funded with the proceeds from the conversion of Blue Cross and Blue Shield United of Wisconsin to a publicly traded company.

In December, the state Department of Health and Human Services said it would give MilwaukeeCares $100,000 over two years.

MilwaukeeCares will set up a network of doctors who agree to treat a certain number of uninsured patients each month or year.

It is modeled after Project Access, a program started in Asheville, N.C., that has since spread to more than 20 communities throughout the country. A similar program in Racine -- the Health Care Network -- was started in 1987.

MilwaukeeCares will be designed to provide care for the long-term uninsured -- typically people in low-wage jobs that don't provide health insurance. These are people who don't qualify for Medicaid or Milwaukee County's General Assistance Medical Program but can't afford health insurance.

Eight in 10 uninsured Americans come from working families, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, which does research on health care policy.

The $450,000 grant will be used to hire an executive director and another staffer to start setting up the program. This will include putting in place systems to determine eligibility and for referring patients to the volunteer physicians.

The medical society hopes the program will begin seeing a limited number of patients sometime next year, Harwood said. The tentative plan is to expand the rollout in 2008.

Many doctors now treat uninsured patients. But one frustration is that when a patient needs to see a specialist, the doctor or someone on staff has the time-consuming chore of finding another doctor who will see the patient for free.

Arranging for a diagnostic test, such as a CT scan, or surgery for the patient is more difficult.

The goal is to replace the existing ad hoc system with one more structured and efficient, said James Ketterhagen, president of the medical society.

"When a patient needs care, they need it from more than one doctor," he said. "They need it from the system."

With the MilwaukeeCares program, in contrast, patients will be assigned to a primary-care doctor who will oversee and coordinate their care. Those doctors, in turn, will be able to draw on a network of volunteer specialists as well as other organizations.

Bevan Baker, commissioner of health for the City of Milwaukee, said the program could help improve the health of the uninsured, providing more cohesive access to primary, specialty and hospital care.

"When you get this type of volunteer effort, it has the potential to propel us forward," Baker said.

The program also could lessen the number of people seeking care at hospital emergency rooms -- one of the most costly settings for providing health care.

The medical society has the goal of persuading 90% of the doctors in Milwaukee County to volunteer for the program. So far, about 90 doctors have agreed to participate.

"That is what a lot of the work over the next seven months will be," Ketterhagen said.

The doctors will be able to determine how many patients they are willing to accept.

"We've said from the beginning whatever people are willing to contribute is fine with us," Ketterhagen said.

Recruiting doctors is just one step. MilwaukeeCares also must recruit hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and testing centers. But, so far, MilwaukeeCares has drawn public and private support.

"That bodes well for our success," Ketterhagen said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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Source: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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